What does it take to execute what's possibly the biggest culinary event in modern history? At Expo Milano, the first-ever world's fair that's all about food, on view since May 1 and through October 31, JBF executive vice president Mitchell Davis serves as chief creative officer of the USA Pavilion, a showcase of American culinary innovation and potential policy solutions to feeding the global population. (There are more than 140 countries participating in the expo, whose theme is "Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life.") A Toronto native, Davis recently appeared in the Globe and Mail, where he describes his myriad duties throughout this ambitious project, and offers glimpses into his daily life alla Milanese.... Read more >

We asked some of our past Outstanding Pastry Chef award winners to tell us about their choice scoops.

Johnny Iuzzini (2006)
Sugar Fueled, Inc
I am lucky enough to live near Odd Fellows Ice Cream, which I consider to be one of the most creative and delicious ice cream shops in the world. Some of my favorites to date: lemon meringue pie, with chunks of lemon curd, bits of burnt meringue, and graham cracker streusel, all folded into a lemon-scented ice cream. Chorizo caramel uses rendered chorizo fat to flavor the caramel that’s swirled throughout the ice cream, which is infused with cooked chorizo.

Michael Laiskonis (2007)
Institute of Culinary Education, NYC
My new favorite stop for ice cream is a relatively new discovery for me: Terre Adélice in Lyon, France. My favorite thing to order is a few scoops of ice cream and sorbet, pairing some of the uniq... Read more >

July is National Ice Cream Month! Share photos of your favorite ice cream cone, sundae, sandwich, sorbet, or other frozen treat (we welcome creativity!) with us between now and July 22, and you could win dinner for two at the Beard House! Here's how:

Flame-loving carnivores: this is your moment. Your time to shine. Your star turn. Your holiday. Don't waste it on some chicken breasts covered in jarred barbecue sauce. If you really want to honor your country (and win summer), you'll celebrate the way you should: with copious amounts of fire-seared meat, a couple of traditional sides, and a peach milkshake spiked with bourbon. (Red, white, and blue deviled eggs and berry flag mosaics are strictly optional.)

If you’re a chef or a farmer, don’t worry about committing the economic lingo to memory. Schmidt’s vision sounds complicated for a big reason: he’s trying to bring greater efficiency to annual food purchases by chefs, a market that’s in the tens of billions of dollars. And it’s an area that’s very prone to wastefulness.

Schmidt’s new project, the FoodShed Exchange (FSX), connects chefs and mindful food producers, creating a reliable and transparent market between them. By removing the intermediaries (the “middle men,” as they are often known), farmers can more nimbly respond to the needs of restaurants while making higher profits, while chefs get to purchase food that’s fresher and vetted by the FSX community. It all takes place on the... Read more >

A quintessentially Italian restaurant in the heart of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains, Palladio at Barboursville Vineyards has been drawing droves of diners for 15 years. To celebrate the anniversary, winemaker Luca Paschina and chefs Melissa Close-Hart and Spencer Crawford put on a lavish feast for Beard House guests, showcasing their trademark spin on Italian cuisine with a menu that infused classic dishes with Virginia's agricultural bounty, from fried Chesapeake oysters to house-cured prosciutto. Watch the video above to go behind the scenes at their recent Beard House dinner, discover how the food of the South connects with Italian cooking, how to grow wines meant for pairing, and where Palladio is headed next.

We've partnered with Simmer, a new app that allows you to generate step-by-step recipe videos that you can create, watch, and share from your very own kitchen. In the coming weeks and months, we'll continue sharing instructional videos that will teach you how to create tantalizing dishes from JBF Award winners, Beard House chefs, and even Beard himself, all prepared in James Beard's historic New York City kitchen.

Now that it's (finally!) strawberry season, we're faced with the fortunate conundrum of what to make with one of summer's sweetest gifts. We... Read more >